High-Frequency Water Quality Sensor Data from Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland

Probe Metrics is a high-frequency water quality dataset collected by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency's Freshwater Monitoring and Assessment Team. It contains sensor readings for temperature, dissolved oxygen, phycocyanin, turbidity, and specific conductivity recorded every 30 minutes from a buoy at Rea's Wood, Antrim. The data is provisional, non-validated, and was last updated on 2026-03-18.

Use Cases

• Modeling algal bloom risk based on phycocyanin and dissolved oxygen measurements.
• Analyzing seasonal water quality trends based on high-frequency temperature and conductivity data.
• Developing anomaly detection systems for sensor malfunction using the multi-parameter time-series.
• Correlating turbidity readings with environmental events like rainfall or runoff.

Strengths

• High temporal resolution with data recorded every 30 minutes.
• Includes detailed sensor accuracy specifications for each measured parameter (e.g., temperature accuracy +/- 0.1°C).
• Data is part of a long-term monitoring project with regular probe maintenance every 4-6 weeks.

Limitations

• Data is explicitly flagged as non-validated and provisional, subject to revision.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) Freshwater Monitoring and Assessment Team, published via OpenDataNI.

Collection Method

Collected via a multiparameter sonde deployed on a buoy as part of a long-term monitoring project.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 11:24:23.151608; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Rea's Wood bathing water site, Lough Neagh, Antrim, Northern Ireland.